


On the Battleship

by hanasuz



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Gen, Jeankasa Week, Mutual Pining, POV Mikasa Ackerman, Self-Discovery, jeankasa - Freeform, jeanmika
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25275256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanasuz/pseuds/hanasuz
Summary: An imagined conversation between Mikasa Ackermann and Kiyomi Azumabito, aboard the battleship they were last seen on in Chapter 130 of the manga.
Relationships: Mikasa Ackerman/Jean Kirstein
Kudos: 14





	On the Battleship

**Author's Note:**

> Mikasa talks about her hopes and dreams, and Kiyomi tells her all about the country of her mother’s ancestors, hoping she will learn about her heritage.
> 
> I’ve been trying to figure out Mikasa’s motivation for wanting to stop Eren. The canon Mikasa I’m familiar with should just blindly follow Eren’s wishes and kill anyone who tries to harm him. But we see her voluntarily aligning herself with Hange, and killing her own peers just to try to reach Eren and talk him down. I’ve been thinking she was only pretending to go along with Hange so that she can fly on the same aircraft with the group. Her ulterior motive? Kill anyone among them who tries to harm Eren. 
> 
> If that’s not the case, then what is driving her? The motives of Kiyomi, Onyankopon, Annie, Reiner etc are clear: they have countries or towns they don’t want destroyed. But what about Mikasa? She was obviously very disturbed by the killing of civilians in Liberio, and perhaps she doesn’t want a repeat of that on a world-wide scale. 
> 
> But what else is driving her? Is it merely a strong conscience? Her own moral compass? What else could it be? These are some of the questions I tried to explore in this story.
> 
> And, of course, being a jeankasa/jeanmika shipper, I’m concerned about one more thing.
> 
> We are this far into the final arc of the manga but there has been no significant mutual jeankasa/jeanmika moment so far. I know I should just give up on one of my favorite ships and content myself with fanfics, but something stubborn inside me still clings to the hope for a romantic canon ending for these two. 
> 
> Unless there’s some major surprise in the very last chapters, there is obviously very little hope for them getting together.
> 
> Jean is in love with a woman who is crazy about someone else, and when this someone else dies, maybe the woman will finally turn to him for comfort. This narrative really cheapens him, makes him no more than a rebound guy. This puts our beloved Jean in a kind of consolation prize role. 
> 
> He deserves better. He deserves to be with someone who adores him, is madly in love with him, thinks he’s the best guy in the entire world. But then canon Mikasa does not love him at all. Maybe she cares for him as a fellow soldier, sure, but no more than that. 
> 
> It is pure, unrequited love on Jean’s part, and it breaks my heart. I just want Jean to be happy, live the life he wants, have that beautiful baby daughter with the girl of his dreams.
> 
> This story is a result of my desperate wish for a real jeankasa moment in canon. It features an in-universe fantasy conversation that, needless to say, will never happen. But that doesn’t prevent me from fantasising. Isn’t that what fanfics are for? ;-)
> 
> It’s an attempt at fleshing out the meaning of love. It’s a jeankasa/jeanmika story that acknowledges Mikasa’s unfailing love for Eren.
> 
> The human heart is infinite in its capacity to love, and that’s what I tried to explore here.

Mikasa stood on the deck of the ship, Kiyomi to her right. They stared in horror, watching helplessly as the titans destroyed the continent.

“Do you think we can make it?” she asked.

“We have to,” replied Kiyomi. “We must.”

The young woman shuddered. What if everything is destroyed? What if Hizuru is destroyed? What was it like anyway, this country her mother’s ancestors came from? 

Regretting the fact that she never really took an interest in what was on the other side of the ocean, she thought grimly of the fickleness of the human mind. 

Why was it that we took things for granted? Maybe someday I’ll visit Hizuru, she’s said to herself before. She didn’t know then that ‘someday’ really meant never. Why is it that we only realise the value of something when it is about to be taken away from us forever?

She felt she’d better learn what she can about her ancestors’ land, because what if Kiyomi dies? There’ll be no one left to ask. She glanced at her arm, the one tattooed with the  _ kamon  _ or family crest of the Azumabito clan.

“Mrs Kiyomi, please tell me all about my mother’s ancestral home,” she said.

* * *

Read the rest of the story on my blog: [Hana's Blog](https://hanasblog.beverlyclaire.com)

[Chapter 1: Her Heritage](https://hanasblog.beverlyclaire.com/attack-on-titan-fanfiction-on-the-battleship-chapter-1/)

[Chapter 2: History Repeats Itself](https://hanasblog.beverlyclaire.com/attack-on-titan-fanfiction-on-the-battleship-chapter-2/)

[Chapter 3: Shy Girl](https://hanasblog.beverlyclaire.com/attack-on-titan-fanfiction-on-the-battleship-chapter-3/)


End file.
